The independent blocklist field guide

Less noise.
More control.

Make sense of ad block lists, browser filters, and the systems behind them. Practical guides for people who browse, build, and publish.

Independent guidanceReal-world tradeoffsSource-led articles
A translucent privacy shield surrounded by cyan, fuchsia, and lime light ribbons.

Different layers. Different decisions.Browser rules · Domain lists · Publisher controls

01
Understand the scope.Know what a rule can see.
02
Test the tradeoffs.Keep the useful parts working.
03
Stay in control.Make every change reversible.

Start where you are

One subject.
Three ways in.

A filter list is part of a system. Find the guide that matches the decisions you need to make.

For people who browse

Choose a calmer browser.

Understand list formats, browser permissions, and site exceptions. Start small and test the pages you actually use.

Explore browser filtering
For people who build

Make the rules explainable.

Explore API contracts, versioned updates, and AI scoring. Design a correction path before automating a decision.

Read the developer guides
For people who publish

Set thoughtful boundaries.

Separate crawler instructions from access controls, and understand how filtering affects content and measurement.

Understand publisher controls

Browser field guides

The right layer for your browser.

Supported rules and settings vary. Get oriented before importing a list or changing a permission.

01 / Chrome

Rules, permissions, and context.

Understand extension compatibility and declarative filtering, then work through a practical troubleshooting routine.

Chrome ad block lists
02 / Safari

Content blocking, considered.

Check what your tool supports, review site settings, and keep exceptions narrow enough to understand.

Safari ad block lists
03 / iOS

Know where your filter works.

Separate Safari filtering from other apps and network-level tools. Test the full mobile experience.

iOS ad block lists

Under the hood

A good rule needs
a clear contract.

What does an entry match? Where did its evidence come from? How can you reverse an update? Our API and AI scoring guides put those questions before implementation.

Explore API design
One decision, made explicit.Illustrative record
{
"domain": "ads.example",
"category": "advertising",
"include_subdomains": false,
"review_status": "human-reviewed",
"schema_version": "1"
}
A reference concept. Not a live API response.

A practical approach

Filter deliberately.

Better decisions start with a clear goal and a test you can repeat.

01

Define the unwanted behavior.

A banner, a tracking request, and an incoming scraper call are different problems. Choose a control with the right scope.

02

Change one thing at a time.

Keep a baseline. Check both what disappears and whether important tasks still work after a list or setting changes.

03

Keep a route back.

Record the change and its reason. Prefer an understood exception or rollback to a configuration you cannot explain.

Ad Block List Lab

Good questions.
Useful answers.

Read all 10 articles

A few useful distinctions

Before you
start blocking.

The most useful filter is one whose purpose and limits you understand.

What is an ad block list?

A list contains rules or entries that a compatible tool uses to identify content or requests. Its format and the tool applying it determine what it can affect.

Is AdBlockList.com a browser extension?

AdBlockList.com is an independent guide and publication. It does not offer a browser extension, a store listing, or a live blocking service.

Can a domain list remove every ad?

A hostname-level list does not have the same context as browser request rules or page selectors. Coverage depends on delivery patterns, rule scope, and the tool that applies them.

Do AI bot rules work like ad filters?

They act in different directions. Browser ad filters affect a visitor’s requests; publisher bot controls concern clients requesting the publisher’s content.

Can I buy a premium list or an API key here?

The premium and API pages are evaluation and implementation guides. There is no paid list inventory, checkout, or hosted API available on this site.

Where should I begin?

Start with the Ad Block List guide, choose the browser or domain layer that fits your goal, and use a small set of ordinary tasks to test one change at a time.

Keep the conversation useful

A clearer web starts with a better question.

Have a correction, a useful source, or a topic we should explain?

Contact the Lab